Melchor v. State’s Empirical Analysis

Citation profile

8 state decisions

Most-quoted passages

The sentences later courts lift from this opinion, ranked by how many decisions quote each — the parts of the opinion doing the work. These counts are smaller than the citation total above because most of the 8 citing decisions cite the case generally; a passage count includes only decisions quoting that exact language verbatim.

1. “"A preliminary hearing is not a trial, since it is not conducted to determine the guilt of accused, but only the two issues — was a crime committed, and is there probable cause to believe the accused committed it."”

   2 later decisions quote this exact passage
   e.g. Pettigrew v. State · Shapard v. State

2. “"Certainly, the evidence at the preliminary hearing was sufficient to believe a crime had been committed, and probable cause to believe that the defendant herein had committed it. As we stated, defendant did not allege any defense — either at the preliminary hearing, or at the district court trial. There is no reason to believe that the jury's verdict would have been any different had all of the witnesses testified at the preliminary hearing. It had no bearing on the evidence submitted to the jury."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Shapard v. State

3. “"Defendant further complains because the county attorney did not call all of the witnesses listed at the preliminary hearing, and that defendant should have been entitled to cross-examine all of these witnesses as a matter of right. However, he does not support this with any cited authority; nor do we find it to be the law in this State."”

   1 later decision quote this exact passage
   e.g. Shapard v. State